Me? The Qin Family Ancestor?

Flying Bird City was bustling with traffic.

On the way back, Shen Zhou and the Three Little Ones discussed where they should go to train next.

A Dai suggested, "Since we're not going to Flying Bird Academy, why don't we find a top-notch martial arts school? That way, as long as we pay, all of us can learn."

Shen Zhou nodded. "A martial arts school works, too. But there are all kinds. Some specialize in fists and kicks, while others focus on weapons. What do you want to learn?"

At once, Xi Mei said, "I want to learn swordsmanship. Brother Zhou is amazing with a sword, and my parents both used swords, too."

A Dai thought for a moment. "I want to learn the saber. Wherever the blade points, I'll charge forward without looking back. I'll cleave through everything and cut down all who stand in my way!"

A Dai's gaze was resolute, his expression firm. It seemed he had a goal of his own.

San Mazi, on the other hand, looked completely indifferent. "I'm fine with anything. Actually, it'd be best if I didn't have to learn."

Shen Zhou and the others immediately replied in unison, "No. You have to learn."

San Mazi wilted on the spot.

When it was Shen Zhou's turn, the Three Little Ones all looked at him again. They were curious, too. Their boss, Boat, was already so powerful—what could he possibly still need to learn?

Shen Zhou, however, had his own plans.

His physical strength was currently his weak point. If he ran into an opponent above the seventh or eighth level of the Transformation Realm, he would have to unleash power approaching—or even surpassing—the Celestial Firmament Realm. If he kept doing that for long, his body wouldn't be able to take it.

So what he desperately wanted to improve now was his physical constitution. "I want to follow the path of body cultivation and achieve sainthood through the flesh. The stronger my body, the better!"

The Three Little Ones were utterly bewildered.

Wasn't Boss Boat best with a sword? Why did he want to cultivate his body now?

Then a strange picture appeared in their minds.

In it, Shen Zhou was broad-shouldered and thick-waisted, with arms so huge a horse could run along them. He stood as tall as an iron tower and spent every day either lifting stone locks weighing tens of thousands of pounds to build his strength or ramming mountains with his shoulder to temper his body.

Just imagining it was terrifying.

As they chatted, they arrived back at the inn before they knew it.

The moment he stepped inside, Shen Zhou sensed something was wrong.

It was nearly noon, yet apart from the innkeeper and the waiter, there wasn't a single guest in the entire inn.

Shen Zhou and A Dai exchanged puzzled glances.

Just then, the innkeeper came over with a smile and asked, "Which of you young guests is Shen Zhou?"

Shen Zhou's expression shifted. He stepped forward. "I am."

The innkeeper continued, "A distinguished guest has been waiting for you in the Tianzi room upstairs all morning. She rented out the entire inn and asked me to bring you to her as soon as you returned. As for these young guests, the distinguished guest has prepared a sumptuous feast for you. Please return to your room and enjoy it."

Shen Zhou was even more confused. "A distinguished guest? Who is it? I don't know any distinguished guests in Flying Bird City."

The innkeeper smiled. "You'll find out when you meet her. Please."

A Dai and San Mazi looked worried and shook their heads, urging Shen Zhou to refuse.

But now that the guest had come and made such a grand show of renting out the inn, Shen Zhou couldn't avoid her this time—or the next. He shook his head at the Three Little Ones. "It's fine. You go eat first. No one can hurt me. I'll go see what kind of distinguished guest wants to meet me."

Thinking of Shen Zhou's strength, the Three Little Ones felt a little reassured. The waiter then led them back to their room.

As for Shen Zhou, he followed the innkeeper up to the Tianzi room on the third floor.

The moment the door opened, Shen Zhou saw someone he hadn't expected.

"Qin Mingyue? You're the 'distinguished guest'?" Shen Zhou was surprised.

Qin Mingyue was waiting at the door in a loose-sleeved, water-green dress. She looked like a green lotus rising from water, her cool beauty giving her an otherworldly air. When she saw Shen Zhou, she said calmly, "My ancestor wishes to see you."

Qin Mingyue gestured inside, and only then did Shen Zhou notice an old woman sitting behind the tea table. Her hair was silver, and she held a greenwood cane.

The old woman looked quite elderly. Deep wrinkles furrowed her face, and age spots showed at the corners of her eyes. But her eyes were bright, and when she smiled, she gave the impression of being open-minded and magnanimous.

When she saw Shen Zhou, the old woman smiled kindly and beckoned him over. "You're Shen Zhou, right? Come in and sit."

Shen Zhou studied the old woman for a long while, then glanced at Qin Mingyue. He seemed to have guessed why they had come. Then he sauntered over to the tea table and sat down, looking at the old woman as he said, "I get it. You're the Qin Family's ancestor, so you came to help your family save face.

"I knew it. These great families are such a nuisance.

"Beat the young ones, and the older ones come out.

"Beat the older ones, and the elders come out.

"Heh... Fine. What do you want? Name your terms. I'll take them all on."

Shen Zhou was ready to fight again. This time, he planned to give the Qin Family a real beating; otherwise, they'd think he had no temper at all.

But the old woman's attitude was completely unexpected. She smiled at Shen Zhou. "I didn't come here today to help the Qin Family save face."

Shen Zhou was puzzled. "Then what did you come for?"

The old woman said, "I want to give you the entire Qin Family and make you its family head. What do you think?"

"Huh?" Shen Zhou wondered if he'd misheard.

Qin Mingyue, standing beside them, also stiffened in shock.

Ancestor Qin repeated, "I said I want you to be the Qin Family's head. Are you willing?"

This time, Shen Zhou heard her clearly. He slapped the table and stood up, answering without hesitation, "Of course I'm not. Is something wrong with your head? I just beat up so many people from the Qin Family. Those elders and juniors probably still hate me so much their teeth itch. And now you're asking me to be the family head? How many years of blood clots in the brain would it take to come up with something like that?

"You'd better hurry home and take your medicine. I don't have time to joke around with you."

As he spoke, Shen Zhou turned to leave.

But Ancestor Qin spoke again, her voice calm and unruffled, yet carrying the weight of a stone striking the ground. "I'm not joking. I mean it."

Shen Zhou stopped in his tracks. He turned to study Ancestor Qin's expression. She showed no sign of wavering. Only then did he ask, bewildered, "No, why? I already said that from now on I'd have nothing to do with the Qin Family. That means I'm letting you off the hook. Even if you want to apologize to me on the Qin Family's behalf, you don't have to offer up the whole family, do you?"

While Qin Mingyue was still completely at a loss as to why her ancestor would do this, Ancestor Qin waved her away.

Qin Mingyue hesitated, but in the end she obeyed her ancestor and left the room.

Only after Ancestor Qin and Shen Zhou were alone did she speak again, giving a reason that left Shen Zhou dumbfounded all over again. "Because... you are the Qin Family's ancestor, the White-robed Divine King from a thousand years ago—Qin Taixuan!"

An invisible thunderclap seemed to split the air.

Shen Zhou's mouth fell open at her words. For a long while, he couldn't say a thing.

He'd thought of every possible reason, but never this.

The Qin Family's ancestor?

The White-robed Divine King, Qin Taixuan?

What kind of joke was this?

Seeing Shen Zhou's reaction, Ancestor Qin wasn't surprised. She simply explained, "When our Qin Family's ancestors found the Taixuan Sword, they saw a prophecy beside the stone where the sword was embedded. The prophecy spread far and wide. You've heard it, too, I'm sure."

Shen Zhou slowly came back to himself. After a moment, he replied, "You mean, 'When the Taixuan Sword appears, the Qin Family will rise again'?"

Ancestor Qin nodded. "That's right, but those weren't the original words. Our ancestors altered them later to conceal the truth. The original prophecy was: 'When the Taixuan Sword appears, the White-Robed One will be reborn!'"

Shen Zhou's pupils narrowed. "You mean..."

Ancestor Qin continued, "Exactly. When the Taixuan Sword is drawn again, the White-robed Divine King will have successfully reincarnated. In other words, whoever draws the sealed Taixuan Sword is the reincarnated White-robed Divine King.

"Our ancestors concealed those words because they feared that if the prophecy leaked, it would endanger our Taixuan ancestor's reincarnation.

"Eventually, only the successive heads of the Qin Family and those who guarded the clan knew of the prophecy."

At this, Ancestor Qin looked at Shen Zhou again, her expression serious. "Now that the Taixuan Sword has been drawn, it's certain that you are our Taixuan ancestor, reborn."

Shen Zhou panicked at this and hurriedly waved his hands. "No, I'm not. I didn't..."

But Ancestor Qin didn't let him get another word in. She dropped to her knees and bowed respectfully to Shen Zhou, saying, "Your descendant, Qin Fenglan of the Qin Family, pays her respects to our ancestor!"

"..."

Shen Zhou's mouth fell open again.

What the hell was she doing?

He'd just cut all ties with the Qin Family, and now she was slapping the title of "Qin Family ancestor" on him and tying him to the family all over again?

Dream on!

Besides, did he not know whether he was Qin Taixuan?

He'd drawn the Taixuan Sword only because...

Unfortunately, the Entry was his greatest secret. He couldn't reveal it.

But if he didn't, he couldn't explain how he'd drawn the Taixuan Sword.

Since he couldn't explain it, they'd conclude that he was Qin Taixuan.

A vicious cycle.

How annoying!

Outside the door, Qin Mingyue stood waiting, her heart in turmoil.

That morning, before they came to the inn, Ancestor Qin had summoned the family head from seclusion, along with the clan's four great elders. They held a meeting about the emergence of the Taixuan Sword and the series of events that followed.

The meeting wasn't public, and it didn't last long. But when it was over, the elders made their position clear: they wanted peace talks.

And Ancestor Qin herself would oversee them.

Qin Mingyue had assumed her ancestor would use both threats and inducements to make Shen Zhou hand over the Taixuan Sword, or offer him enough benefits to join the Qin Family.

But she had never imagined that the benefit would be the entire Qin Family itself.

Making someone from outside the family its head was the sort of thing she wouldn't have believed even if she'd heard it with her own ears—yet here it was, happening right in front of her.

"Why would Ancestor Qin make this choice? And why didn't the family head and elders object?

"Is it because of the Taixuan Sword?

"What secret does the Taixuan Sword hold?"

Qin Mingyue's brow furrowed.

Creak...

As she was thinking, the door suddenly opened from the inside.

Shen Zhou emerged with a look like he was desperately constipated. He couldn't help turning back to say, "I'll make this clear first: I never agreed to be the Qin Family's head. Don't try to force a sale on me. I'm not responsible for any of it."

From inside the room, Ancestor Qin's calm voice drifted out. "As you wish. From this moment on, the Qin Family is yours. If you don't want to manage it, you can let it rot. It's up to you. In the end, you'll be the one who suffers the loss..."

Shen Zhou's eyes widened. He hadn't expected an old lady of her age to be so shameless. "You... you..."

"Oh, and one more thing... From now on, Mingyue will be following you. Our Qin Family never breaks its promises, and this is what she wants, too..."

Shen Zhou immediately turned to Qin Mingyue in shock. "Didn't you say you didn't want to marry? How come you're willing now?"

Qin Mingyue was still trying to process what her ancestor meant. At his question, she paused, then answered simply, "I've changed my mind."

Shen Zhou was struck speechless. He pointed at Qin Mingyue. "You... you... you're crazy. All of you in the Qin Family are crazy!"

With that, Shen Zhou stormed off.